Yeah, I thought they'd be great for a breakfast on the fly, they're sort of like a portable bowl of oatmeal.

Shut Up!

No really, they're loaded with grains and nuts and dried fruit, just like a bowl of oatmeal.

So you're telling me that tomorrow morning I can eat cookies for breakfast?

Uh...yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying.

SHUT UP!

Hey relax, will you.

How come I never hear you get this excited when I offer you a bowl of oatmeal?

Oh....and stop saying shut up or I'm giving your cookies to Muppet!

If I were a gambling man I'd be willing to bet that any of you that make these little flavor bombs will experience a conversation eerily like the one I just recounted. Why? Because as weird a concept as breakfast cookies might be to those of us masquerading as adults, the whole idea is even more bizarre to our kids. I can't even imagine what my reaction would have been to my mom telling me she had baked me cookies for breakfast, I probably would have peed myself.

Anyway....you've been warned.

I came across the idea for these lovelies in the January issue of Bon Appétit in the form of Almond-Cranberry Quinoa Cookies. They pitched them as a great quick breakfast alternative, and when I thought about how my kids would bow down before me if I made these for them, I put them on the "to-make" list. Then, after chatting a few days later with my friend Gina who told me she had already tried the recipe and that they were rock-star awesome, I moved them to the tippity-top of the "to-make" list, and the rest as they say is history.

As I often do, I decided to tweak the recipe a bit, partly due to personal taste, partly due to the stark reality of my pantry situation, and partly because I just can't help myself. I kept the basic quinoa-oat base of the cookie, but then switched a bunch of ingredients and their quantities to come up with a Blueberry-Coconut-Pecan version of these little breakfast goodies. And yes, they ARE rock-star good!

Go forth and make these, and prepare yourself for the tidal wave of gratitude that will surely flow from your kids.....it's pretty cool.

Cheers - Steve

Breakfast Cookies

adapted from a recipe by Jenny Rosenstratch in Bon Appétit Magazine - January 2012

Method:

Heat oven to 375℉

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

In a standing mixer, cream the butter, sugar and honey with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, add the eggs one at a time, giving the dough enough time to incorporate the first egg before adding the second. Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest and cinnamon and mix to combine.

Turn the mixer to low and add the flour, mixing until just incorporated. Pull the mixing bowl from the stand and hand-stir in the quinoa, oats, blueberry, pecans, and coconut.

Spoon the dough in 2 tablespoon portions onto the 2 baking sheets, spacing them about an inch apart. bake until golden, 12-15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and transfer to an air-tight container when fully cooled.

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Welcome

"Oui, Chef" exists as an extension of my efforts to teach my kids a few things about cooking, and how their food choices over time effect not only their own health, but that of our local food communities and our planet at large. By sharing some of our cooking experiences, I hope to inspire other families to start spending more time together in the kitchen, passing on established familial food traditions, and starting some new ones. Read more...